Making a Monaro more enjoyable for UK roads
Discussion
I came from BMW's and there is a fair amount of slop in the transmission and axle compared to an m5 for example. Diffs clonk a bit. The drive shafts while not worn out had about an inch of play in them. Made a massive difference to the car and removed nearly all of the transmission slack. Car was at 78k at the time.
Clutch master cylinder was bad luck. Radiators and top mounts are very common.
AP's are massive and fully floating so around £300-400 per disc plus £200 for pads so it's just about £1000
Clutch master cylinder was bad luck. Radiators and top mounts are very common.
AP's are massive and fully floating so around £300-400 per disc plus £200 for pads so it's just about £1000
Sohlman said:
I came from BMW's and there is a fair amount of slop in the transmission and axle compared to an m5 for example. Diffs clonk a bit. The drive shafts while not worn out had about an inch of play in them. Made a massive difference to the car and removed nearly all of the transmission slack. Car was at 78k at the time.
Clutch master cylinder was bad luck. Radiators and top mounts are very common.
AP's are massive and fully floating so around £300-400 per disc plus £200 for pads so it's just about £1000
Re the Ap's. What sort of life are you getting assuming no track days, just fast road use?Clutch master cylinder was bad luck. Radiators and top mounts are very common.
AP's are massive and fully floating so around £300-400 per disc plus £200 for pads so it's just about £1000
At a £1000 per axle its something to keep in mind but at least you can plan for it if you know expected lifespan...
Re the diff, Janosh's car felt quite tight after all the work it has but I remember slack in a Falcon I've driven. Even with BMW's there is play but much less, people spend ages on trying take away every last clunk on some BMW's not realising it's pretty tight already. My Z3 has a poly diff bush mount and subframe mounts which has tighter that up but it still has a light clunk characteristic of the car.
An inch of play sounds a lot though, worthwhile upgrades the sounds of it.
At the risk of going completely of topic how do you compare this your V8 M5?
I can't comment on the life of the AP's I am not particularly hard on brakes and I would surmise their wear would no worse/better than anything else.
However they are a racing part in essence so designed for prolonged heat cycles whilst being lighter reducing Un sprung weight so will be pricey compared to a non floating brake.
How does it compare to M5.
Whilst I have not owned one I wanted to buy one and test drive one and found it disappointing. Very smooth and civilised but no sense of occasion compared to a monaro. It had been a dream car for me to buy and I had been looking for some time and was very surprised how ordinary it felt. It didn't even feel that quick compared to our e60 530d. I drove a monaro 2 days after the m5 at elite. A vanilla cv8 and it was objectively worse in most areas, but oozed character. That was it my mind was made I needed a vxr version and wanted a 5.7vxr. 2 weeks later james got one in and 15 months and 15k miles later I still love it.
However they are a racing part in essence so designed for prolonged heat cycles whilst being lighter reducing Un sprung weight so will be pricey compared to a non floating brake.
How does it compare to M5.
Whilst I have not owned one I wanted to buy one and test drive one and found it disappointing. Very smooth and civilised but no sense of occasion compared to a monaro. It had been a dream car for me to buy and I had been looking for some time and was very surprised how ordinary it felt. It didn't even feel that quick compared to our e60 530d. I drove a monaro 2 days after the m5 at elite. A vanilla cv8 and it was objectively worse in most areas, but oozed character. That was it my mind was made I needed a vxr version and wanted a 5.7vxr. 2 weeks later james got one in and 15 months and 15k miles later I still love it.
I think quite a few owners would have looked at M5's when considering a Monaro as they tick similar boxes and are in the same price bracket. I looked at the E39 M5 but the (relative) lack of character and potentially higher running costs put me off.
One of the things that Dino commented on is the torque from the LS engine.... compared to the BMW units it's developed much lower in the rev range making the car more enjoyable more of the time and at more 'sensible' speeds.
My AP's have been on the car for just over 10k miles and there's almost no wear on the disks.... but it also hasn't seen any track days so they're probably not being used nearly hard enough
One of the things that Dino commented on is the torque from the LS engine.... compared to the BMW units it's developed much lower in the rev range making the car more enjoyable more of the time and at more 'sensible' speeds.
My AP's have been on the car for just over 10k miles and there's almost no wear on the disks.... but it also hasn't seen any track days so they're probably not being used nearly hard enough
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